# What books would you like to erase all memory of from your brain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752 "2009-07-02T23:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/121 "2009-07-17T08:30:57Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > \*My Sister’s Keeper \*by Jodi Piccoult–she is an author who betrays her characters to fulfill some kind of weird agenda of her own. That’s my take on it, anyway. I’m not going to defend or explain further, but I will say that as a healthy child in a family that had 2 chronically ill sibs, Piccoult knows nothing about how those kids (and their parents) react to stuff. For what it’s worth, your insight has enriched my dislike of Picoult. Thank you. I had to read _My Sister’s Keepr_ for a class a couple years ago. The one redeeming aspect of that book is that it’s so bad it’s actually funny. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/122 "2009-07-17T09:43:13Z")
Duma Key Pillars of the Earth The Dollmaker Angels and Demons Wittgenstein’s Mistress ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/123 "2009-07-17T13:20:07Z")
Son of Rosemary. Ira, how could you? ---
**Author:** ![Bacon\_Salt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@Bacon\_Salt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacon_Salt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/124 "2009-07-18T02:03:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It is selfish of you to wish to wipe your memory of that book, **Shirley**. If you do not remember it, how will you be able to warn others? Uh-uh. You don’t get to start making an exception for Twilight now the third page in just because you’ve decided people need to be warned. You’ll start a slippery slope where people can’t erase any book from their head so as to serve as a warning to others. Besides, you promised the following: > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s been programmed to erase all memory of a given literary work from the subject’s brain, replacing it with a message saying “This is a message from yourself. Do not read _Book X_ ever again. In fact, if anyone offers it to you, immediately punch them in the kidney, as they’re not your friend. You’ve already inflicted thsi upon yourself in a fit of masochism, and believe me you don’t want it back in your head. You don’t remember because you wiped your own memory. That’s how bad it is.” What could be more compelling a case than “I zapped my head this book was so bad.” _Don’t give this to us just to yank it away so soon you cruel, cruel man._☹ ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/125 "2009-07-18T04:07:08Z")
I’ve read Vonnegut, Stephen King, the Thomas Covenant books, Bio of a Space Tyrant, the Jean Auel books, The Road by McCarthy. Cat’s Cradle gave a nice resounding thump when it hit the wall, but I found Vonnegut king of fun. I haven’t read Twilight and definitly won’t now. Please remove: John Irving again: The World According to Garp. They made a movie of it with Robin Williams. Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres. I read the Greenlanders and found it kind of depressing, but attributed it to the setting. This one is set in the middle of the wheat belt, fresh air and sunshine, lots of food, what could be depressing about that? Leave it to Jane. Richard Adams Girl in a Swing. Same guy who wrote Watership Down which I loved. When I looked this up on Amazon, lots of people were giving it great reviews, but I hated it. I don’t know how to do the spoiler boxes, but he tries to get me to sympathize with a main character who does something I will never sympathize with. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/126 "2009-07-20T13:12:01Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > Richard Adams Girl in a Swing. Same guy who wrote Watership Down which I loved. When I looked this up on Amazon, lots of people were giving it great reviews, but I hated it. I don’t know how to do the spoiler boxes, but he tries to get me to sympathize with a main character who does something I will never sympathize with. It really was a turd, wasn’t it? The only reason I finished it is because it was set in the general area where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/127 "2009-07-20T15:46:36Z")
> [@Bacon\_Salt](#): > > Uh-uh. You don’t get to start making an exception for Twilight now the third page in just because you’ve decided people need to be warned. You’ll start a slippery slope where people can’t erase any book from their head so as to serve as a warning to others. Besides, you promised the following:What could be more compelling a case than “I zapped my head this book was so bad.” _Don’t give this to us just to yank it away so soon you cruel, cruel man._☹ The difference between Twilight and, say, Hannibal, is that the former is ACTIVELY BAD for the people most likely to like it. And I didn’t say I wouldn’t authorize use of the neuralizer–just that a higher purpose might be served by retaining the memory. It’s like remembering Jenny McCarthy’s appearances on Oprah. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/128 "2009-07-20T16:10:20Z")
Is anyone else barely restraining themself from hurling accusations of stupidity and/or complete lack of a sense of humor at a handful of people who’ve mentioned their hatred of books you yourself enjoyed? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/129 "2009-07-20T16:14:39Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Is anyone else barely restraining themself from hurling accusations of stupidity and/or complete lack of a sense of humor at a handful of people who’ve mentioned their hatred of books you yourself enjoyed? Hurl your accusations, woman! Only be nice about it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/130 "2009-07-20T16:59:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Hurl your accusations, woman! Only be nice about it. And Mom said that course in genteel bitchslapping was just filler. Hah! The ones I’m really headscratching over are _Great Expectations_, _Lisey’s Story_ (in that I don’t get specifically picking out that one as bad–I thought it was good, for a Stephen King, anyway–when there were others of his that blew much harder), Kurt Vonnegut, and _The World According to Garp_. ---
**Author:** ![mudkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@mudkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudkicker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/131 "2009-07-26T12:21:18Z")
There have been quite a few books I’ve read and not enjoyed, but if we’re talking really literally being able to remove all memory of reading it, the only book I wish I’d never read is _Maribou Stork Nightmares_ by Irvine Welsh. The main crime and the detailed and calculating way the perpetrators get away with it in court was truly depressing and has stayed with me for years. I really wish I’d never read it. I really enjoyed _Let’s Go Play at the Adams_’, though. I also recently read _Off Season_ by Jack Ketchum and thought it was great. Perhaps because both books were so OTT I don’t see them as upsetting personally, whereas with _Maribou Stork Nightmares_ it’s a very real threat, and the knowledge that people actually do this, and get away with it through lying - every day. Similarly, I’ve never been able to rewatch _Lilya 4Ever_. Wonderful film, but I was way too emotional after watching it to do that again. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/132 "2009-07-26T15:28:54Z")
_Foucault’s Pendulum_. Read it when the world was Umberto-crazy and everyone said I oughta read that book. Simply awful. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/133 "2009-07-26T16:23:00Z")
> [@Khan](#): > > For what it’s worth, your insight has enriched my dislike of Picoult. Thank you. I had to read _My Sister’s Keepr_ for a class a couple years ago. The one redeeming aspect of that book is that it’s so bad it’s actually funny. I live to serve. But seriously, no parent (no sane parent) uses one child as spare parts for another. Truly. (I know there are some parents out there who have done IVF to get another child so that already existing child can get that bone marrow transplant or whatever, but I don’t consider them sane). And then for for the healthy child to get killed in the end so that now ill child can get that kidney was appalling to me. But I’ll bet Mama’s happy, now, eh? :rolleyes: And I only spoilered that because the movie is coming out soon. No, I will not be seeing it. I thought I was the only one who found _A Thousand Acres_ to be bloviated King Lear for Harlequin romance type stuff. I don’t ask that it be expunged from my memory, though–I have almost no memory of it; it didn’t stay with me long enough. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/134 "2009-07-26T16:28:14Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Is anyone else barely restraining themself from hurling accusations of stupidity and/or complete lack of a sense of humor at a handful of people who’ve mentioned their hatred of books you yourself enjoyed? Not really. I’m scratching my head over how anyone can not like Austen, for example, but I know that I have extreme dislikes of certain authors that others may find inexplicable, so to each his own. I’ll never be fond of Faulkner or Joyce (except for the _The Cat and the Devil_, which is a children’s book by Joyce), King leaves me cold (although he also scared the shit out of me with his early books); I have no love for Irving or whoever wrote Bonfire of the Vanities (hated that book and couldn’t read past page 17 the several times I tried. The main character was an asshole from page one. I don’t care what happened to him or why. But I digress…) So, in answer to your query, not really, no. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/135 "2009-07-26T18:15:40Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > _Foucault’s Pendulum_. **Read it when the world was Umberto-crazy** and everyone said I oughta read that book. (Emphasis mine.) Uh, when was that? FWIW, there’s a good chance that whoever you were hearing recommend the book was full of it. When I was in library school it came up as an example (along with _A Brief History of Time_) of how bestseller status doesn’t mean people have actually read a book, it just means they paid for it. _Foucault’s Pendulum_ is one of my favorite books and I’ve read it 4-5 times, but although I’ve met plenty of people who started the book I’ve known very few who actually finished it. There are several other Dopers who’ve read _Foucault’s Pendulum_ in its entirety, but IRL I’ve been able to discuss the ending exactly once. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/136 "2009-07-26T19:20:06Z")
I’ve read _Brief History_. No complaints with that, and I don’t even have the math chops to follow physics and astronomy, generally speaking. I think I would have hated _Pendulum_ less if I’d had the sense to treat huge chunks of that semi-mystical deep-meaning stuff as a MacGuffin instead of thinking that’s what the book was seriously _about_. WHEN would have been early 1990s maybe 1992ish? ---
**Author:** ![Aelita\_Daystar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Aelita\_Daystar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aelita_Daystar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/137 "2009-07-27T02:13:00Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > _Lord Foul’s Bane_. I was so upset by the rape scene that I put the book down. A year or so later I picked the book up again and finished it. Why did I do that? I still don’t know. That scene was really the turning point of the book. That is totally the point where book goes bad. Not only was I supremely annoyed by the turn of events, but I found that the book became boring after that point. Up until around that scene I was genuinely intrigued by the book. Then I just felt annoyance, which then faded into boredom, and so I stopped reading. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/138 "2009-07-27T04:46:11Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I’ve got to go with _The Road_. I was trying to explain to my husband how depressing this book was, so I read him some of the character names from the IMDB entry on the movie…Baby Eater, Amputee in Cellar, Cannibal #1, etc. I tried reading that book. The premise sounded interesting, I just couldn’t get over his writing style. For some reason it annoyed the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/139 "2009-07-27T06:38:23Z")
Others have mentioned Stephen King. I think he does best with short stories, _The Stand_ not withstanding. When I read \*It \*all I could think was, “Do the police know you’ve killed and buried your editor in your backyard?” How could that book go over three hundred pages otherwise? It was his last book for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752/140 "2009-07-27T16:54:11Z")
_Billy Bud_, it was the shortest book of the choices I was forced to write a book report about and I hated every minute of it, I should have read something closer to my tastes instead. Also _Red Badge of Courage_, I think I ground my teeth down a bit each time ‘the youth’ was referred to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-would-you-like-to-erase-all-memory-of-from-your-brain/501752.md?page=8)